Faculty News

Milissa Carey is directing a production of A.R. Gurney's Sylvia at California Conservatory Theatre and is workshopping the role of Eleanor of Aquitaine in two new plays with CentralWorks in advance of fall production.

Faculty composers David Conte and Conrad Susa are featured speakers at the National Symposium of American Choral Music, sponsored by the Library of Congress and the American Choral Directors Association, in Washington, D.C., June 29-30. Conte's article, "A Copland Portrait: Memories of a Friendship and Thoughts about His Influence on American Choral Music" was published in the June issue of the Choral Journal.      

Opera Program Director Rick Harrell served on the panels for the Artist Intensive Workshops, giving career and audition advice at the Opera America Conference in Philadelphia, June 13 through 16.  

Michael Kaulkin (M.M., composition, '96) a member of the Preparatory musicianship faculty, will receive the premieres of several compositions this summer. San Francisco Choral Artists, conducted by Magen Solomon, perform the a cappella madrigal "Ducks in the Garden," while the Kodály Summer Institute Chorus will give the premiere of a new commission in Oakland on July 27. And his string quartet City Walks will be performed at this summer's Hell Hot! festival in Hong Kong on a concert of music by the Bay Area's Hear Here Composers Collective, featuring guest composer Tan Dun.

Pianist Hang Li (M.M., piano, '03) a former student of Mack McCray, is now a member of the Preparatory faculty.

Andrew Mogrelia, former music director of the Conservatory Orchestra, leads the Malmö Symphony and soloist Alessandro Marangoni in a new recording released on Naxos featuring Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's two Piano Concertos and Four Dances from 'Love's Labour's Lost.'

Rebecca Plack, a member of the Conservatory's Music History and Literature department, lectured and performed at a conference called "Reactions to the Record III," at Stanford University in April. This month, she lectures, performs and teaches at the Vancouver International Song Institute in her second year on faculty there.  

In a review of two concerts by faculty cellist Tanya Tomkins, the Washington Post noted, "It is not easy to give a distinctive performance of Bach's suites for solo cello, something that makes those familiar pieces sound new. That is what baroque cellist Tanya Tomkins did Saturday afternoon in an insightful traversal of all of six suites over two concerts closing out the Library of Congress's Bach festival." In addition to teaching this summer at the American Bach Soloists Bach Festival and Academy, held at the Conservatory, Tomkins will perform at the Oregon Bach Festival, Music in the Vineyards Festival and the Moab Music Festival, where she will be joined by faculty violinist Axel Strauss.

Student News

Two composers who had pieces featured in the Conservatory's recent Biannual Choral Composition Competition have had their works accepted for publication by Santa Barbara Music: Danny Clay, student of Dan Becker, and Mari Valverde, student of David Conte.      

Alumni News

Hannah Addario-Berry (M.M., chamber music, '06) will record a CD of suites for solo cello by Canadian composer Stephen Brown at Saint Stephen's Anglican Church in British Columbia, the oldest church in the Canadian province.

Julio Elizalde (B.M., piano, '05) was recently a member of the junior division jury for the 2012 Fischoff Chamber National Chamber Music Competition. At the end of the month he will perform as a guest artist at the Bowdoin Music Festival in Maine alongside regular concert partner, violinist Ray Chen.

Submerged Queer Spaces, a film by Jack Curtis Dubowsky (M.M., composition, '01), screened at the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival on June 16. And his Cantata for Harvey Milk, a new choral work commissioned by the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco and the Lick-Wilmerding High School, receives a second performance at the Conservatory on June 22 after an April premiere.

Abraham Fabella (M.M., composition, '04) was recently appointed music director of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Opera. His song "Easter Mood (Week 1)" received a recent premiere by soprano Beth Griffith at Jan Hus Presbyterian Church in New York City under the "15 Minutes of Fame" series by VoxNovus. On September 23, he will premiere two of his own organ compositions, Moon Jewel and Carioca para Cristo Redentor in Riverside at a season-opening concert for the American Guild of Organists.  

Giacomo Fiore (M.M., guitar, '09) had his first scholarly article published in the May issue of the Journal of the Society for American Music: "Reminiscence, Reflections, Resonance: The Just Intonation Resophonic Guitar and Lou Harrison's 'Scenes from Nek Chand.'" And in April, he gave the world premieres of two compositions written for that instrument: Larry Polansky's 85 Chords (with the composer) and Ron Nagorcka's Just Dance. Finally, his Tangents Guitar Series presented the Living Earth Show featuring alumni Travis Andrews (M.M., guitar, '09) and Andy Meyerson (M.M., percussion, '10) to glowing reviews in San Francisco Classical Voice and Examiner.com.

Joshua Fishbein (M.M., composition, '09) is winner of The American Prize in Choral Composition, Student Division, 2012. He was also recently named a winner in the 60th Annual BMI Student Composer Awards. Fishbein was a student of David Conte.

And sleep overcame him as it does all men..., a work by Santiago Gutiérrez Bolio (M.M., guitar, '06), had its Swedish premiere last month at Samtida Musik Festival in Stockholm. The piece was written for the Danish viola and accordion duo Inviolata and premiered in 2010 at the Frederiksværk Musik Festival in Denmark. Santiago has also been recently commissioned by the Copenhagen Chamber Choir Camerata to write a set of pieces inspired by songs from different parts of the world. The first will premiere this fall in Tolosa, Spain.   

Christopher Herr (B.M., horn, '92) is a founding partner of architectural firm Studio H:T, which recently garnered a historic preservation award from the City of Boulder as well as several awards from the Colorado Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, for un-built architecture, built architecture and craftsmanship. Herr just completed a performance cycle of Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with the Colorado MahlerFest.   

Joan Harrison (B.M., cello, '85) hosted Democratic Dialogue via the Arts, a two-day symposium in June that brought together scholars and artists to explore and celebrate artistic contributions to democracy and social justice. Harrison will perform in the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival this summer before moving to Boston to take up a new position at the Longy School of Music of Bard College.

Heather Klein (M.M., voice, '06) performed Yiddish songs for an evening of "Cabaret, Comedy and Song" at Angelica's Bistro in Redwood City on June 14. Next she heads to New York for performances at the National Yiddish Theatre and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research on June 20 and 21. She returns to the Bay Area to appear as Pamina in the Magic Flute with the Ina Chalis Opera Ensemble at the Community Music Center July 8 and 22.  

Nathaniel Kondrat (M.M., voice, '11) will represent the Northwest Region at the final rounds of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards Competition held in Orlando, Florida on June 28. Kondrat studied with César Ulloa.

Lise Lindstrom (M.M., voice, '96) made her debut in May with the Vienna State Opera in the title role of Strauss's Salome.  

On June 24, Jeux Deux, the piano duo of Eliane Lust ('74) and Ava Soifer, performs a program of dance music for two pianos by Barber, Corigliano, Piazzolla, Guastavino, Gerwshin, Infante and Stravinsky at Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland.

After a long and varied Peninsula career performing with professional woodwind quintets, serving for 20 years as principal bassoon of the Women's Philharmonic and building a thriving private studio in San Mateo, Beverly McChesney (B.M., bassoon, '77) has relocated to Santa Rosa upon her husband's retirement to launch a new phase of musical activity. She still plays as a founding member of the Bellavente Wind Quintet, which received a Parents' Choice Approved Award in 2011 for its children's CD, Frogs and Friends.

Peter Magadini (B.M., percussion, '65) gave a drum and percussion clinic at Drum World in San Mateo on June 3. The event was sponsored by Drum World, Vic Firth, Paiste Cymbals and Aquarian Drumheads.

Doug Nagel (B.M., voice, '84), assistant professor of voice and choral studies at Montana State University Billings and artistic director of Billings' Rimrock Opera, recently sang the bass solos in Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with the Helena Symphony.

Double bassist Gregory Ogden ('74) will perform with the New Millennium Chamber Orchestra at its inaugural concert in San Carlos on June 15.

The CD Patrie! - Duets from French Romantic Operas (Brilliant Classics) featuring soprano Hjördis Thébault (M.M., voice, '96) has been awarded five diapasons by Diapason, the most important French classical music magazine. This summer she performs in productions of Purcell's Fairy Queen in Uzès, France and Bach's St. Matthew Passion in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Pianist Kelsey Walsh (B.M., piano, '11), a former student of Sharon Mann, participated in the premieres of two works at ODC's Dance Commons on June 8 in a concert with Wild Rumpus, a Berkeley-based new music collective. Walsh blogs for I Care If You Listen, whose content now appears in the online edition of the Huffington Post. She is also an intern with Old First Concerts, helping with PR and audience development.

Cassandra Wamboldt (M.M., voice, '12) was mezzo-soprano soloist in Henry Mollicone's Misa de los Inmigrantes in a performance with the San Jose Philharmonic Orchestra directed by her teacher, Leroy Kromm, in Los Gatos on June 9.  

Elza Van den Heever (M.M., voice, '04) features prominently in a review of Lyric Opera of Chicago's recent production of Handel's Rinaldo in the June issue of Opera News. The soprano receives captions in three photographs and is generously praised by the magazine for her performance as Armida. "Most impressive of all was South African soprano Elza van den Heever, who tore through Armida's pyrotechnical writing with dazzling assurance."  

Winton Yuichiro White (M.M., composition, '08) won the inaugural "Drinking/Songs" competition organized by Voicebox Media. For the same concert, Noah Luna (M.M., composition, '10) was commissioned to write an arrangement of a Mexican drinking song. "Llego Borracho El Borracho" was performed alongside White's "Beer for Choir" at the concert on May 16. In addition, Salary.com published an article about Luna as a composer and publisher for its series on dream jobs.  

Preparatory News
 
Pianist RJ Pearce won first prize in the Marin Music Chest Awards. RJ is a student of William Wellborn.

Cellist Elena Ariza performed again at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall in May as a first prize winner of the American Fine Arts Festival Golden Era of Romantic Music International Competition. Elena is a student of Jonathan Koh.

Two students were first prize winners of the California Youth Symphony's Young Artist Competition: pianist Rachel Breen, a student of Sharon Mann, and violinist Alex Zhou, a student of Zhao Wei. Both will perform as soloists with the symphony next season. Pianist Hilda Huang, a student of John McCarthy, took second prize. In addition, Alex surpassed 120 candidates from around the world to clinch first place in the 11 years and younger category of the Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition.

Bravo to prize winners in the MTAC-San Francisco branch competition. Caroline Chang won first prize in the Early Advanced category, while Evan Chow and Connie Chen took first and second prize in the Young Artist category. Evan also won first prize in the Senior Division of the Etude Club Competition in Berkeley. All three pianists study with William Wellborn.

Violinist Andrew Gao is the first prize winner of violin Group A (aged seven and below) in the CMTANC International Youth Music Competition. Calvin Luo won third prize in violin Group B (aged eight to 10). Both are students of Zhao Wei.

Pianist Marie Kelly performed in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as a first prize winner of the American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition on April 18. Marie is a student of Annamarie McCarthy.

The Pacific Piano Trio (Tristan Yang, Irene Jeong and Christopher Richardson) took second place at the Music Teachers' Association of California VOCE state finals. Fifteen Preparatory ensembles made it to the finals in the junior ensemble division, the most that had ever auditioned for VOCE. The group was coached by Aenea Keyes and Machiko Kobialka.

Kenneth Renshaw played the Bach Concerto for Violin in E Major with the San Jose Chamber Orchestra in San Jose at the Petit Trianon Concert Hall on May 20. Kenneth is a student of Li Lin.

Cellist Ila Shon, student of Amos Yang, performed at Stanford's first TEDx Conference on May 19. Ila was the youngest person included on the program.

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